This Monday, Dr. Reinhard Rauball made it known that he will not be putting himself forward as a candidate for the presidency of the league association. The 71 year old, who is also the current president of Borussia Dortmund, has been praised by Hans-Joachim Watzke, chief executive of the board of management of Borussia Dortmund GmbH & Co. KGaA.

''Reinhard Rauball's decision has to be respected - as difficult as that may be. In the name of all of us at Borussia Dortmund, I would like to give him a big thank you for the extraordinarily successful time he's enjoyed in the role,'' stated Watzke. ''The league association has developed in a really positive way under his leadership. From a purely sporting perspective, you'd have to say the World Cup triumph in 2014 and the all-German Champions League final in 2013 between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich were the highlights of his time as president. Having said this, it should also not be forgotten that Reinhard Rauball always did his utmost to maintain a crucially important balance of interests between the bigger clubs and the smaller clubs in German football. He deserves the utmost respect for his longstanding, successful work, which was always centred around constructive dialogue.''